(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for allocating an intercell resource in a heterogeneous network environment.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In a wideband wireless communication system, performance of terminals that are located at a cell edge is deteriorated by interference from adjacent cells. Particularly, in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)-based wideband wireless communication system, because adjacent cells use the same frequency resource, performance of a terminal that is located at a cell boundary region is largely deteriorated by intercell interference. As a method for solving this problem, intercell interference is mitigated using a Fractional Frequency Reuse (FFR) technique.
As a future wideband wireless communication network, a heterogeneous network (HetNet) that is formed with a macrocell and a plurality of small cells has been in the spotlight. In the HetNet, a macro base station controls and manages a plurality of small cell base stations existing within the macrocell. That is, the macro base station controls a frequency and resource allocation of the small cell, thereby minimizing intercell interference.
In a HetNet environment, a method of allocating the same frequency to a macrocell and small cells and a method of allocating different frequencies to a macrocell and small cells exist. In the method of allocating different frequencies, intercell interference may be mitigated, but there is a problem that an additional frequency resource should be allocated for the small cells. However, in the method of allocating the same frequency, because interference between a macrocell and small cells or interference between small cells may increase, a method of reducing intercell interference is very important for increasing network quantity.